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dragonpiwo · Joined: 04 Mar 2013 Posts: 1650 Location: Berlin

I am in my garden in Poland right now with 9 Polish friends. 5 speak English fluently, 2 very well, 1 is elementary and 1 a beginner but fluent German speaker.

Was out the other night with Poles, some of whom I had never met, and they all spoke English well.

That is how it is. My son is 17 and all his school friends speak intermediate English.

My friends have young kids and they are all learning English already.

I do not know who you hang around with but all the Poles I meet here, well nearly all, and in Abu Dhabi speak good English.

delphian-domine · Joined: 11 Mar 2011 Posts: 674

No Place Like Home · Joined: 27 Apr 2016 Posts: 20

Making an effort to use your Polish definitely gets you more respect, and in my case is the only way I have managed to continue in State schools since 2001 because you need a good command to get through all the Ministry admin if nothing else. I live in a really small village and teach in two other even smaller villages, it's really necessary in these communities to use your Polish because in the sticks you rarely meet people in everyday life who know more than a little English.

Master Shake · Joined: 03 Nov 2006 Posts: 1202 Location: Colorado, USA

Yep, the further away from the bigger cities you go, the more of a necessity Polish is. Socioeconomic status is also a major factor. In Warsaw, just a across the river in the working-class Praga district, English is much less common. I know; I lived there for a couple of years.

Poles are also overly self-conscious about their English skills, probably more so than any nationality I've ever met. In Poland will people who are B1 or even better tell you they "don't speak English". My Polish isn't that great, B1 at best, but I often found myself speaking Polish to B1+ speakers of English simply because they didn't feel comfortable speaking English out of fear of making mistakes.

The idea that most people in Poland speak English well today is just wrong. It may look that way if you visit upscale restaurants and shops in cities, but step out of that bubble and you'll quickly notice that the real Poland's English ain't so hot.

dragonpiwo · Joined: 04 Mar 2013 Posts: 1650 Location: Berlin

Some of you must really live in the bundies. Even the beggars are getting pretty good at English lol.

I think the Poles you are on about will never want lessons, so they'd be off my radar.